


Leah's Corner: "Hope in the Home" 2-Part Special Episode!

by poppyseedheart



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, M/M, Podcast, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 1-1.5 Hours, Transcript Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25449121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppyseedheart/pseuds/poppyseedheart
Summary: Hey everyone! Welcome to this two-part episode on Hope in the Home, the recent TV special that came out following the life of Jung Hoseok, his husband Jungkook, and their son Heuning Kai. As usual, Leah's Corner has all of the deets to catch you up on what happened, so let's get into it!
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Jung Hoseok | J-Hope
Comments: 15
Kudos: 19





	1. Part 1: The Hopekook Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jksbunscrunch (Devoncarrots)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devoncarrots/gifts).



> Hello!! Breaking character to say how excited I am for y'all to finally witness this! Thank you ever so much to Rene for requesting this and being patient with all of my questions as I went, and for supporting my writing in general. <3
> 
> This is part one—part two comes out tomorrow, and then there just might be a bonus episode coming a few days after that. Guess you'll have to subscribe to find out. B)
> 
> Truly though I had SO much fun with this and I hope you have fun listening, too! <3

  
_cover art by jamesbonds_

**Listen**  
  
_(or click[here](https://archive.org/details/hope-in-the-home-part-1) for download options and mobile streaming)_

Written and read by poppyseedheart

 **Length:** 27:30

Transcript for this episode:

Hey everyone, welcome to the first episode of a two-part series I'm doing on Hope in the Home, the made for TV special that just came out on SBS last week about Jung Hoseok, better known as j-hope (that's stylized all-lowercase for the newcomers) and his family. If you're new here, welcome! My name is Leah and this podcast is a mix of pop culture, television recaps, a little bit of celebrity gossip, and general entertainment news. It's a mixed bag, okay? I'm unpredictable, I can't be tamed. 

This time around, though, we're doing a 2-parter about the special that just came out, and I'm so excited about it. If you've been following my social media, you'll know that j-hope and Jungkook—known to the public as Hopekook—have been two of my favorite artists for years, and getting to see some behind the scenes moments in their life was such a joy. Especially when you think about how private they usually are with their family and home life. All of the little interviews throughout were so open and honest...wow, honestly, this was the gift that Hopekook fans didn't realize they needed until it was right under their noses, and I for one am still reeling a little at how unexpected this was. They didn't announce it until 24 hours before! You have to be so famous to do something like that and have people still tune in and break records to boot, it's like they're Lee Minho or something.

But I think the surprise of it is what made it so special to be part of. All of my social media exploded when the announcement came, and then again when the special itself dropped. Friends I hadn't talked to in months were in my inbox asking me if I'd seen that moment where Hoseok was cooking and Jungkook was watching from the doorway with a fond smile, or when they were driving their son to school and all three of them were singing along to a song on the radio. Yes, for the record, I did see these moments and more that we'll get to next episode. But honestly, it was just so... heartwarming, I guess. Is that cheesy to say? To me, fandom has always been about loving things loudly, and finding friends to love too along the way. The night the special came out I felt so full of love I might burst with it.

People ask me a lot why I do this show. It's a little nerdy, it's definitely over-enthusiastic, and all of my expertise comes from being a fan of things. I'm not a music critic or a scholar, I'm not well-connected in the industry, I'm not a journalist. I just connect with other fans in a very specific way, the same way I have been since I was a naïve thirteen year old maybe ill-advisedly discovering the internet for the first time and just absolutely blowing my world open.

The answer really is that this show makes me feel like I'm part of a community. The people who listen are fans just like me. We don't all love the same things in the same ways, but we understand each other all the same.

That's special, is all I wanted to say. This whole process has been really special to me.

Now if you're not new here, you're probably very confused, because that was the sappiest intro you've ever heard me deliver, and likely will be the sappiest thing I ever say on this show for at least another six months, if not longer. This show is about hot gossip and here I am waxing poetic about the wonders of fan spaces, nice one Leah.

Anyway, the special itself was about ninety minutes long. I am going to recap it, because that's what we do on this show, and do the requisite squeeing along the way, but before that I wanted to give some background so that, if you're not familiar with this particular story, you have at least a little bit of context for said squeeing.

If you're already a Hopekook scholar and know the history of their relationship, how they adopted Heuningkai, and the trajectory of their careers since they were trainees, then feel free to jump on over to episode two. For the rest of you, who either don't know any of it, only know some of it, or are always ready to reminisce (which, relatable), then stick around, because part one is going to be all about the history of what exactly led to making this special possible.  
This is Leah's Fan Corner, and yes, you can sit with us.

[intro music]

Let me set the scene: 

It's 2013, and charisma-bomb Jung Hoseok, stage name j-hope just finished his debut stage to rave reviews. His dancing was praised, unsurprisingly considering his reputation as a street dancer pre-debut, but his rap and vocals turned more heads than expected as well. His next comeback gets bumped earlier to ride out the wave of popularity and keep his star rising, and he starts doing more press with other groups and soloists on shows like Idol School and even a rumored appearance on We Got Married. With all of this happening, the performances naturally scale up, and the company hires more backup dancers.

Enter Park Jimin.

Wait, you're probably saying, Leah, what do you mean Park Jimin? I thought this was about Hoseok and Jungkook? To which I say: it is! Jimin is part of this story. Please let me explain.

Jimin is a trainee with BigHit Entertainment, the same company that Hoseok is under. As part of his training, he gets pulled to backup dance in j-hope's first two music videos for his debut, which is not unusual in the industry. What is a little more unusual is that Jimin is then asked to dance backup at Hoseok's first concerts, which are small but lively, and then invited on Hoseok's first Asian tour. All of this, mind you, in the first six months after Hoseok debuts. 

I do think we as fans tend to forget how much pressure Hoseok was under in the beginning—there was so much riding on his ability to continue becoming more and more successful over a short period. He's said in the years since that he wouldn't wish that kind of stress on anyone. For someone who rarely complains where the public can see and has a reputation for diligence and hard work, it must have really pushed him to his limit.

So according to Jimin, he and Hoseok became fast friends. Here's a quote from an interview he did last year with Dispatch: "Hoseokie-hyung is the kind of true friend that you become close with very quickly. He's a warm and giving person. Even when I was just a trainee and he was my cool sunbaenim, he never treated me like I was less than him. I was really not cool, but he welcomed me with open arms even though I was lacking and taught me so much about the industry. I am thankful that I had a hyung like him back then, and I'm still thankful for him now."

Awww. Those two really are so sweet, I love that they're still friends after everything. After Jimin also debuted, they apparently used to go to the same local bar all the time—the name was never dropped by anyone that I know of, but most people seem to assume it's Chun Ja, located right off Rodeo Street. The company would rent the place out once Hoseok got famous enough, but if Hoseok and Jimin and some others didn't want to go to the trouble, they'd just pile in and find a table as best they could. There are a few pictures from back then that are really cute, I'll share them on my twitter when this comes out.

So that's how Jimin and Hoseok got close. But Jungkook, still a trainee, was too young to attend, so even considering how much Jimin allegedly schemed to get them to meet at the time, Jungkook wasn't able to join these outings. It was actually at a dinner, immediately before Jungkook's debut, that Hoseok and Jungkook met. We've gotten this story a few times, each with slightly different details, so let me try and put the whole picture together.

First, Jimin invited fellow BigHit trainee Jeon Jungkook along to go eat some chicken after a particularly grueling practice. Everyone was allegedly exhausted but in good spirits. They showed up, they ordered, they monopolized a table in the back, and then it starts to get interesting.

We only have a few firsthand accounts about this, and the most detailed are from people who chose to go anonymous because they were staff or other trainees and thus compromising their jobs by sharing the information at all, but here's—to the best of our collective knowledge as a fandom—what went down.

It's around ten in the evening. Jimin is dragging Jungkook into the restaurant by the elbow, politely but firmly nudging their way to the one empty seat next to Hoseok. Ostensibly it was being saved for someone, but that's no match for Park Jimin on a mission. Jungkook is deposited into the seat while Jimin goes off to procure drinks. Jungkook and Hoseok make some small talk, which is almost entirely Hoseok speaking and Jungkook looking at him with his wide bambi eyes. An indeterminate amount of time (and a rather tame but still scandalous account of Jimin seducing a staff member) later, Hoseok manages to upend an entire glass of beer onto Jungkook's shirt.

God, poor thing. He was only nineteen at the time. Jimin ended up taking him home not long after they arrived, and their first meeting ended on kind of a sour note. But that's how we know their love is real, I think. Not to get sappy again this episode, but I've always loved hearing about their false starts, and how human it all is. I feel like a lot of celebrity relationships have this glossy story where it was love at first sight or it's awkward in this cute, movie-sweet perfect way, but rarely do we see actual struggles that people go through that aren't resolved neatly or quickly. I just think it's nice, that's all.

Though from what we know, it wasn't nice in the moment for them. Jimin said that for literal months, they avoided each other, Jungkook because he was nervous and Hoseok because he felt guilty. By the way, shoutout to Jimin, a ton of what we know about Hopekook comes from the book he just released about his trainee days. They all seem like close friends still, so we have to assume Hoseok and Jungkook both were okay with Jimin sharing these things. I can't imagine it didn't go through a rigorous vetting process [haha] like, I don't even want to think about how many people this book had to go through before it got published.

Anyway, our two favorite music boys did have a pretty rocky start, by no fault of their own. It just happens like that sometimes. And it took almost six months for them to even speak again. Hoseok went off on his Asian tour with Jimin tagging along to dance, and came back to the company proper to train for his comeback in late February.  
That comeback included a music video.

Ooooh, I feel like I could hear some of y'all gasp while listening to that. Yes, The Music Video, capitalized in all fan content because it's both that respected and that contentious. I actually debated including it in this at all, but there's no story of Hopekook without discussing the Base Line video, even if it might raise some eyebrows that I'm discussing it. Powers that be, I promise this is all very well-intended and journalistic. Investigative, even.

Y'all will back me up if I get a cease and desist, right? Haha, I don't think it'll come to that, but just in case. Okay, great, thank you.

So, the music video.

Some information is fully just public record, including a very cute three minute behind the scenes video where we get approximately zero point four seconds of the back of Jungkook's head but we definitely see the way Hoseok is laughing while talking to him—go watch that immediately if you haven't. Also technically public record is the information that sometime between the start of filming on the 10th and the end of filming on the 12th, Hoseok and Jungkook tentatively agreed to go on a date together.

That's pretty much it. The company was super secretive since it was Hoseok's first comeback, and in the time since Hoseok and Jungkook have said many times that it's the one part of their relationship they want to keep entirely to themselves. To my understanding, they're literally the only two people in the world that know exactly what happened.

Well, that might be an exaggeration. I imagine like, their parents knew. Best friends, family, whatever. But the fact is that those people have held strong in the time since, because we still have no idea, and I know some dedicated fans. And I want to clarify that I don't think this is our business, right? Like, if they want to keep things private, that is one hundred percent their prerogative, and I definitely don't want to argue otherwise. As fans it's important not to cross lines and triply important when those lines have been clearly and publicly drawn by the people we are fans of.

Okay, disclaimer over. Because now I'm going to tell you about the three predominant conspiracy theories around how they got together, and we'll break down where they came from, who believes them, and whether they might have just a glimmer of truth. It's all speculation! Please don't sue me! They're all pretty goofy anyway, so if you believe one of these, then that's on you, not on me.

Let's get into it.

Theory number one: The Kiss.

The Base Line video climaxes (ha, sorry) just over two minutes in when Hoseok and the love interest, who was played by the beautiful then-trainee Hirai Momo—they're still friends! it's cute!—, kiss passionately in the middle of the dance floor after going back and forth with various freestyle moves in a dance battle. It's a gorgeous shot, they're both beautiful, the build-up was there. Ah, it's great. Big fan. Now I kind of want to watch the video again. Actually......okay, hold please.

[faint Base Line playing]

I'm back! It's still a very good video. The theory here is that in order to block out the scene, test the lighting, et cetera, they needed someone to go through the scene with Hoseok pre-filming, but Momo didn't arrive until just before the planned time. Who better to hop in than hero-crushing Jeon Jungkook? So the story for this theory goes that Jungkook gets pulled up, goes all bambi-eyed at Hoseok, and then they make out for a bit while people are yelling direction at them.

It's...admittedly a bit flimsy. It's cute, though! We love a meet-cute, and this is such an adorable concept I just had to include it. You'd think someone would have maybe photographed it if an idol and a trainee had actually locked lips in front of a full crew, but hey, who knows?

Theory number two: they were dating all along

This seems counterintuitive to most people considering the fact that I literally told y'all in the intro to this that all we know is that they agreed to go on their first date during this music video. That's fair. But I honestly like this theory! 

It goes like this : what if, after their ill-fated first meeting, noted matchmaker Park Jimin decided that Hoseok and Jungkook needed to resolve things that month, not weeks and weeks and weeks later. What if he meddled so aggressively that they not only spoke to each other with regularity, but started dating each other casually?

This one is a little contentious, because at this point, right when he and Jungkook first met, Hoseok had been connected with dancer Kang Seulgi in dating rumors that never went anywhere, but according to the theory Hoseok and Seulgi were acting as each other's beards. With the recent marriage of Seulgi and her now-wife Bae Joohyun, also known as Irene, in New York City this last Fall, that actually does potentially hold some water.

Either way, the biggest piece of evidence for this one is the matching bracelets they were separately photographed wearing around that time. Or... okay, matching might be a stretch. They're both silver, fairly delicate, and have a charm on them. Hoseok's is a little sun and then the English letters for the word HOPE. Jungkook's is a flat circle with an engraving that we think says the date of his mom's birthday. But they were both spotted in Jongno Jewelry District during the period they allegedly weren't speaking to each other. Maybe they were getting gifts for each other for their 100-day anniversary? Much to think about.

All right, I won't bore y'all too much with the end of this one. If you know, you know. The only other pertinent piece of information that goes into this theory is that we had a few folks on set report much later that Jungkook and Hoseok had flirtatious energy on set for the music video.  
You know who has flirtatious energy? Boyfriends!

Yeah yeah,it's flimsy. I'll stop.

Theory number three: and my personal favorite: they swapped bodies.

This almost definitely sounds ridiculous if you haven't heard about it before. The first time I heard it I thought it was a joke. And I think that maybe it is, a little bit, but it's the kind of joke that makes you want to play along and follow it just to see what'll happen. Here we go, I'm just gonna say it and then you all can make your judgments, yeah? 

The theory says that sometime on the day of October 9th, 2017, Jung Hoseok and Jeon Jungkook ended up in each other's bodies. Most versions of the theory posit that they woke up that way, so we're going to stick with that. Having awoken in the wrong body, both of them immediately, in a panic, try to call Jimin. At first, only Jungkook-in-Hoseok's body gets through, and Jimin writes it off as a weird prank. To be honest, I don't blame this theoretical version him for that. Then, just a few minutes later, Hoseok-in-Jungkook's body manages to call, and Jimin becomes confused. These two don't even regularly talk, do they? Why would they call him with a prank like this? Could it have something to do with his upcoming birthday? Who knows.

Regardless of Jimin's actual thoughts on the matter, he eventually is convinced, and thus begins a scheme to make the music video go well. The biggest proponents of this theory point to choreo from Base Line that later got adapted or even replicated in Jungkook's early performances, which came with his own debut soon after the release of the video. The idea is that Jungkook himself created the moves and did them during the video filming, passing it off as a desire to make it feel more organic, and then by instinct continued using those moves later.

It gets wilder, though. Around this time is when Jungkook first started learning to rap, and this theory speculates that Hoseok was the one who started that—that while in Jungkook's body, he reached out to the company and requested training, because Hoseok thought Jungkook had potential that he wasn't stepping up and tapping into himself. That's why that picure of Hoseok at one of Jungkook's last practice sessions as a trainee blew up so quickly—it was taken as proof.

And if, like me, you assume that the only people that believe this are a little, well, wacky, know that it has a bit of a cult following online. Some people think that they regularly swap bodies, and there are entire blogs dedicated to pointing out potential swaps.

I mean, hey. If that's where people want to dedicate their energy, more power to them. 

So those are our theories! Like I said, they're all a little on the sillier side, especially that last one, so please don't take this as actual speculation. Leah's corner is very against speculating for real about people's lives and especially about things they choose to keep private. If you want to read more accounts about how things could have happened, that's what fanfiction is for. 

If you need recs just let me know, okay? My twitter dms are open. Not even kidding.

Regardless of what actually happened, they did very tentatively start dating during the Base Line filming, and as far as we know they just never stopped! They didn't come out until a few years ago, understandably, but they've always been so supportive of each other, and I know some eyebrows were raised before they were public when they attended awards show together. Like, yeah, they were both nominated at most of these shows, but did they have to wear matching suits?

When asked about those appearances a couple of years ago, Jungkook said, "Hobi-hyung and I wanted to find a way to be together in public without having to worry too much about people wanting to know everything. There was curiosity, sure, but we both have such amazing fans, we knew it would work if we just gave it a test run. Though he did almost kill me for those electric green suits. Everyone thought it was his idea, so I want to set the record straight. He had to be prevented from burning it before the show. It took six staff members to calm him down enough. Oh, me? I didn't help. I was laughing at him."

Dreamy sigh. Those suits were hysterical, too. I was one of the people who totally thought it was Hoseok who planned that, but I should've known better. He loves a neon, but he manages to make them look so tasteful. This was... I don't want to say an atrocity. I don't think it's possible for a man so beautiful to look like an atrocity even if he is wearing a three-piece lime green suit. But, and I hate to say it, it came close. At least he performed early and got to change for it.

Most of what we know about their first few years of dating is that it was hard because of the distance, but also that they're both so career-focused that they didn't think it would work with someone who didn't value performing as much as they did themselves. They're a perfect match in that regard. j-hope, who broke records on multiple streaming platforms across his career, and Jungkook, who became and remains Korea's sweetheart and also managed to break his way into the American market and charts. He's been mega-famous for years, yeah, but something tells me he's just getting started.

Of course these two would look at each other and see their differences but notice, above all else, the ways in which they are the same. Like, they used to FaceTime each other to ask the other to critique them during a dance practice. I'm not going to say that's boyfriend behavior for everyone, because it certaintly wouldn't be for me, but there is nothing that speaks better to the two of them being grossly in love than that in my opinion.

I could talk a lot more about their relationship history—this is already getting long and I know I'm gonna have to cut out some stuff, so please please follow my social media or go watch some youtube compilations or something because I physically can't cover it all and I don't want any of you to miss out on any beautiful iconic moments. There are so many. They are so touchy and cute and love each other so loudly. Oh my god am I going to cry? Shit. I was not planning to cry. Oh my god I haven't even gotten to the adoption yet. Okay shit I'm gonna go take a lap or something. Here's some of one of Hoseok's songs to keep you company while I'm gone. (Off-mic, shouted: Oh my god! [laughter] Ridiculous)

[excerpt from Hope World]

I'm back! And feeling better than ever. No worries about this next section at all, I think I'm gonna be calm cool and collected.

So right after Hopekook came out, some information got leaked that they had been visiting adoption agencies. It was all very hush hush, but you can only duck in and out of back doors when you're world-famous idols for so long, right? So word got out, and their companies individually made announcements that they were planning to adopt, and the internet absolutely lost its collective mind.  
In the beginning, and I think rightfully so, there was still a lot of privacy around the adoption and their son. Neither of them posted pictures of him until that one video that Hoseok posted on Jungkook's birthday of Jungkook singing some nonsense song and we could hear Heuningkai laughing off-screen. It was so sweet. I think I might have died that day. Am I a ghost? Are we all ghosts? Honestly, it's possible. From that point forward, we did get the occasional picture, and Hopekook got spotted at a couple of youth soccer games once Heuningkai was old enough to participate.

Sidenote, have you guys ever been to those? You know how when they're babies they just run around with no regard for where the goal is or what they're trying to do? My best friend's little cousin was playing a game that we went to and she literally just ran around picking flowers and taking them to her coach the whole time and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I like to imagine that's what it was like at these games because it makes my heart happy.

Both Hoseok and Jungkook wear the title of young dad so well, too. This is just my take, but I have loved seeing how in love with their kid they are. It couldn't have been easy to decide to adopt a toddler when they're both still so famous, especially right as Hoseok was starting to build up his own production company. You know that new parents don't sleep much. I can't even imagine how busy they must have been.

Though I'd be remiss to talk about the early years without mentioning the support they had. They've both talked freely about their friendship with producers RM and Suga, Kim Namjoon and Min Yoongi respectively, and idols Kim Taehyung and Kim Seokjin. When you throw in Park Jimin, there's a veritable tiny village to keep them afloat.

Fast forward to the special, and we got to see so much more than I ever expected we would of their life with Kai. I'll save most of the details for next episode—I know, I know—but it's just cool to me that they have this confidence in their family and their relationship that they want to share things with other people now.

These days, to catch you all the way up, j-hope is still making music and performing, but he also dabbles in production, both for himself and others. He's also featured on mixtapes for fellow rappers Suga and RM, and there are whispers that he'll be launching a streetwear line soon. Do I need a pair of sweatpants that'll put me out 200,000 won? No. Am I going to buy them anyway? Almost definitely yes.

Jungkook is also still performing! His latest comeback, My Time, was absolutely gorgeous. The floaty vocals, the runs, the production value.... folks, I'm a fan. That's probably not surprising, though. These two seem to have been trading off comebacks a little bit, so while Jungkook fires up for his promotions, Hoseok has stayed at home and posted the cutest content, so I really encourage you to follow him if you don't already!

All right, that's all for this episode of Leah’s Corner! Thanks so much for tuning in. As always, come say hi on my social media if you'd like, and keep an eye out for the second episode, which should be going up right after this one, where we discuss the special and start picking at the details of it!

Okay, bye for now!


	2. Part 2: The Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now let's recap the 90 minute special!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2! This is the heart of this work and I definitely got a little emotional writing and recording certain parts of it, so I hope you forgive the melodrama or the parts where it gets a little Real. <33
> 
> (There is a musical interlude toward the end, but that's not the end of the episode! There's a lil bit more talking after.)

  
_cover art by jamesbonds_

**Listen**  
  
_(or click[here](https://archive.org/details/hope-in-the-home-part-2) for download options and mobile streaming)_

Written and read by poppyseedheart

 **Length:** 20:20

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey everyone, welcome to part two of this two-part series I'm doing on Hope in the Home, the miniseries that just came out on SBS last week about Jung Hoseok, better known as j-hope, and his family. If you're new here, welcome! My name is Leah and this podcast is a mix of pop culture, television recaps, a little bit of celebrity gossip, and general entertainment news. Usually it's a bit more grab-bag as I update you on the news of the week or dive into some of the latest tabloid headlines (or even interview special guests), but this is the second part of a very specific series! Yay! Part two! Last time, we recapped the Hopekook relationship and looked at some theories about their getting together. I also gave a quick update on where they're at currently, and caught up all of our baby fans on the basics you need to get into the fandom!

Now that we've done that—and please go listen if you missed it and need context, because we're just going full steam ahead now—it's time to talk about the special.

Last week, on Tuesday at exactly eight in the evening, the special Hope in the Home aired to millions of viewers, many of whom ended up torrenting it or otherwise viewing illegally. Ah, international fans. I don't envy the creativity they need to have.

The special, as I've said, is about Jung Hoseok and his family. His husband, Jeon Jungkook, and their son Heuningkai, to be a bit more exact about it. It aired for ninety minutes and every single one of them was an absolute delight to witness. Objectively, I mean. Am I still pretending that this show is objective? Sorry everyone, I don't know that I am anymore, but I'm always willing to try where others (past Leah) have failed.

It opened on a gorgeous shot of their house. And like, wow. I think sometimes I have an easier time just being like, yeah, that celebrity is rich, than like actually working to conceptualize what that amount of money looks like in practice. A house like that... must have cost a lot of money, let's just put it that way. But we at Leah's Corner denounce the evils of capitalism on our own time, and for a brief sparkling moment I was lost in the euphoria of ooh, pretty. Which, I gotta be honest, isn't a terrible place to be.

They have an apartment in Seoul, I think? That's my understanding, at least. But this house in Gangneung-si is a whole other beast. Obviously Seoul is pretty crowded and everyone lives in apartments, blah blah blah, but when you give rich people some space to play you're gonna get results. I think my favorite thing about it is how bright and open it felt without being cold? You're gonna have to go look up pictures, because I'm no critically acclaimed uh, critic, haha, but something about these gorgeous couches and lavish blankets and big windows... ah, it reawakened the part of me that wants to marry someone for their money. Listeners, I'm single. I'm gonna open my Twitter DMs, but honest advances only, okay?

Right, so it opens on the house, and then we go inside. The very first scene was Jungkook helping Heuningkai with his homework and I one hundred percent melted into a little puddle of goo. I think that was the moment where I was like, oh shit, this is gonna destroy me. Like I knew, but did I know? The way Jungkook's voice got all soft and Kai was looking at him like his dad was his entire world....movie magic can do a lot, but it can't fake that kind of thing, you know? And we followed Hoseok inside as he walked in on the scene and kissed them both on the forehead.

Ohhh, I'm so soft. Really I am. And one thing I wanted to mention, because you might have missed it, especially if you were watching with subtitles, is how many pet names Jungkook and Hoseok call each other. Usually Hoseok, honestly—he also called Heuningkai a million cute names, most of them rhyming and sing-songy—but it went in both directions. Somehow we were blessed with all of the Hopekook and none of the stilted awkwardness of interviews where an interviewer finds a way to sneak in an ugly question about fans that "disagree" with their lifestyle or question how young they are to be parents. All of the gentle affection and very little, at least, of the looking over your shoulder for sasaengs with phones. Ah, knowing that they chose to share this with us makes it all the more precious in my book.

If I recap this entire special scene by scene we are gonna be here all day, so I'm gonna talk about just my favorites. If you want a more exhaustive list of my reactions, go look at my livetweet thread on twitter. Also, uh, warning, it's not particularly coherent. Sorry! It's fine, I think. I curse a lot but like, who didn't that night. Don't worry too much about it.

Okay okay, fave scenes. The first one that comes to mind is one that has been giffed to hell and back, which I love seeing, even if it's dangerous for my heart, and it's the scene where they talked about Jungkook's next tour. His star has been rising pretty much nonstop since he debuted almost seven years ago now, which is amazing to watch as a fan, but it also means that the asks he gets in terms of his time, attention, dedication, et cetera are always rising as well. When you're married with a kid, that's obviously a pretty big challenge to try to meet.

And I'm not saying that Jungkook has done a perfect job of it, but he's really been admirable, and I think one of the reasons why is what we see in this scene. They're sitting on the couch in the living room, blanket over both of their laps, holding hands and talking about this. It starts with Hoseok asking Jungkook what he wants to do, and then he offers his own opinion. They talk a little about Heuningkai and supporting him through his early years of school, how they're going to miss firsts—the chat about missing teeth here was so cute but also a little devastating—and then Jungkook starts crying. This was a lot to watch! I'm proud of him for being willing to show it. There was some controversy around whether he'd wanted that to be aired or if the company had gone over his head and pushed it out anyway, but like, guys. He's an adult. He's been in the industry a long time. I think that if he really didn't want this to come out, it wouldn't, or they would've had this conversation away from cameras. Everyone always wants to treat him like a kid when the truth is he's fully an adult now, no matter how many clips there still are of him from pre-debut floating around. Okay, rant over.

But the way Hoseok was just willing to sit and listen and occasionally wipe his tears away was so tender and sweet. Get you a man like that. And in the end, they decided that Jungkook would go on the tour with the clause that they would start with an abbreviated tour and only add more shows if he felt okay after the first leg. And that they would Facetime ideally every night, but at least three times a week if things got hectic. It was all planned out so carefully and you could really see how much less scared Jungkook looked by the end of it.

The communication...impeccable.

I love that we got to see this particularly because it's such an example of how healthy their relationship is. And if Heuningkai has an example like this to look up to as he continues growing up, I think that kid is gonna get all the love he deserves and more.

The next scene I wanted to talk about was the mini road trip back into the Seoul area to Jongno-gu. This one has also definitely been giffed a lot, but it's just not the same when you can't hear their voices. They did a— how to describe it. It was kind of like a carpool karaoke, but mostly a sing-along where everyone was allowed to be as rowdy or ridiculous as they wanted to. They sang songs from their own discographies mostly, and tossed in some popular ballads and then some songs by their friends too, and all three of them were singing just so loudly. I don't think Heuningkai knew most of the words, but he definitely seems to take after Jungkook with those pipes (haha). Hoseok was mostly shrieking, though, so maybe that's the resemblance. Hard to say.

And then when they got to the hanok they went to their room and all cuddled up on the mat and my heart grew a million sizes. You guyssss. I don't know how to express how this sweet little family makes me feel. I feel like I am the one who is married to a beautiful man with a kid I adore. Like, I'm not. But if I was, I'm pretty sure this is how it would feel. They took a little history tour—I'm pretty sure the place they booked with sponsored this bit, which was a great move for them because i can't imagine they won't be completely inundated with guests over the next few months—and then made some homemade wine (and fruit juice for Kai, of course).

This was maybe the most domestic of the scenes we got, which is saying something because the whole thing is very domestic, where they were cutting up fruit and talking about their day. It felt so comfortable, even to be watching. Not like I was intruding, but like I was witnessing something really special. They're both good about that. I always wonder if they're just very earnest people or if they're very good at fanservice. I think it could be a little bit of both, but when they wrote each other letters I think we saw glimmers of the former more than anything else.

I'm getting ahead of myself. At the end of their trip, I guess it was the producers that asked them to write things for each other. Or maybe the owners of the hanok? Was this part of the package? It was hard to tell. Anyway, the details aren't that important. What is important is that they spent their last afternoon writing letters to each other and then crafted one together for Heuningkai, and then their last evening they read them to each other outside while the sun was setting, and everything got real emotional.

I'm just gonna read out some excerpts (yes, I took notes) so you can hear why I was so emotionally compromised.

From Hoseok: Jungkook-ssi, you are my cutie (yes he said this) and I can't imagine life without you. Thanks for being sweet to hyung. Try being sweeter to yourself as well and see how sweet we can all be together.

From Jungkook: Hobi-hyung, with you I can be so many more things than I could be alone. I have looked up to you since I was young and you were the cool sunbaenim I only wanted to impress. I still hope to impress you every day. Everything that I am, everything that I have, is because we built it together. Thank you for staying by my side.

And for Heuningkai: We hope you can live a life without burdens. Learn the value of work, but do it for yourself and your loved ones. Grow happily, but never take advantage of others to do so. You are already becoming someone amazing. We will both be here for you every step of the way.

[sniff] No I'm fine! I'm totally fine. I just think it's [breaking down] really beautiful how they're a family and they found each other so young and they've built this beautiful amazing thing together and seem to be so aware of the influence the other has had on their life, and how much fuller their life is for living it together.

[deep breath]

Okay, one last scene and then we're gonna talk about the bonus content and then how the episode ends.

The last scene I really wanted to talk to you guys about is the one about two thirds of the way through where Hoseok goes to Heuningkai's school and meets the other kids. This was all of the adorable. He's so good with children. I don't know if you guys remember that interview where he talked about how he thinks he would've become a primary school teacher if the whole rapping thing hadn't worked out, but I think about it constantly, and it felt super present for me during the special and especially during this scene. His little songs, how the kids were so endeared to him, how they kept trying to climb onto his body and he was just sitting there laughing... wow. And Heuningkai seemed so happy and proud to have his dad there. A win win win in every direction.

They also mention during that scene that Jungkook had mostly been the parent to interact with teachers and stuff, though understandably neither of them are really close with other parents. Their worry about Kai being able to make friends because of their own fame was a really sober moment in an otherwise buoyant scene. The way they phrased it made me think they didn't really want the viewers to dwell on it too much, anyway, it was more of a passing note than anything else. And it closed out with another shot of Hoseok piggybacking kids while everyone involved was laughing loudly, so I can't even bring myself to stay sad about it.

And that's that scene!

In terms of bonus content, fans who purchased a special pass got access to essentially a digitial DVD package. Please, listeners, tell me you all have at least seen a DVD in real life. I checked my stats the other day and demographically some of you are. So small. Stay in school please!

The bonus features were a couple of uncut scenes (my personal fave was watching Jungkook struggle to explain the concept of addition to Heuningkai during that opening scene) and some additional interviews with Jungkook and Hoseok. I'm not sure how they still have more to say, I feel like everyone constantly just wants to hear every though that passes through their minds, but Hoseok was bright and cheerful and Jungkook spoke very thoughtfully. It was about the process of filming, mostly. Hoseok said that his favorite part was getting to show fans more about his life. I'd forgotten partway through that he's really the star of this show, and Jungkook and Heuningkai are framed as like, his family in the promotions rather than just all being a squad that fans know equally. His least favorite part was having to get up earlier than usual to make time for talking heads that got added throughout. Yeah, can't blame him. I'm not much of a morning person either.

The one other piece of bonus content that I absolutely had to talk about with you guys is the interactive trivia game. If you play in online mode, it will literally put you up against other fans, but you can also just play by yourself to attempt to get a high score. They had Hoseok record sound effects for it, which was an inspired decision, and the questions were really fun, if pretty easy.

Here, I'll give you an example:

Question: What song does j-hope usually do for the last encore when he's on tour?

Options:  
a) Airplane  
b) Piece of Peace  
c) Daydream  
d) Hangsang

Now, we all know it's a song off of Hope World, so like, duh. At least the producers were on it for that and didn't give us any nonsensical options. But if you consider yourself a j-hope fan and don't know that he always closes out with Daydream, I don't really know what to say to you. Maybe go listen to episode one again for some backstory and then go find a primer. I have nothing else to offer you except for tentative support.

Anyway, the quiz goes on like that for a while, and then at the end depending on how you did you get a picture of Hoseok! I tried a few different approximate scores to see what the options were, and I think I found all of them. Zero to five out of ten correct will all give you Hoseok pouting in a selca while his voice says, "Try again, fighting!" Six to eight out of ten correct will yield a slightly sunnier looking Hoseok in a striped shirt and the voiceover is, "I hope you can do even better!". Nine out of ten is Hoseok onstage—it almost looks like a fansite picture, it's so crisp and clear—and the voice for that one says, "You're so cool! Keep going!"

And ten out of ten, which honestly isn't that hard to get if you know your stuff or judiciously search Naver while playing (there's no time limit), is a picture of Hoseok with his whole family. They're sitting on the same couch we see in the living room in the special, mid-laugh at something Heuningkai has said or done. It has such warm energy, I couldn't stop smiling after I saw it the first time and I took a screenshot when I got it to play on my computer. Totally worth it, so if you get the chance, I would recommend either grabbing the bonus content yourself or splitting it with some friends! Lots of cute stuff.

Let's talk about how the special ended, yeah? This was really interesting to me. I sort of expected that it would end with a kind of victory lap. You've seen their perfect life with a couple of necessary flaws to make it more relatable, and now we can go back to sunshine and everything will be great and you can keep loving and envying them uncomplicatedly in equal measure.

But it wasn't quite that, was it? No, it was something a little different.

I don't know if this was an intentional move on the company's part or if Hoseok and Jungkook had a lot of creative input—or if it was some combination of the two, or something else. It's hard to say. But the tone was melancholy, in a sense. The setup of the scene itself wasn't anything special, they were just taking Heuningkai over to a friend's house, but the music in the background was two songs. First- um, Do you guys know Blue Side? [blue side starts playing in the background] Yeah, you know blue side. It was that one, over Hoseok and Jungkook just talking quietly about their plans for the next week and recapping what they knew about the parents of this kid they were dropping Kai off with. Nothing special, like I said, but it was so... it tugged at me. The camera closed in on the two of them pulling hats low over their heads, and then, from a distance without sound, smiling and chatting with the parents of this other kid, body language so carefully oriented toward each other, occasionally looking over their shoulders.

I don't pretend I'm not part of celebrity culture. That my talking about these things and fanaticizing them doesn't contribute to— to dehumanization, to the need to button yourself up while in public in case any tiny thing is misconstrued. I never want to act naïve to these things.

I just sometimes wish they wouldn't always act so grateful for it all. I think about Jungkook tearing up because he loves his fans, this grasping chaotic bunch of people that we are, and it just makes my love bigger. It makes me want to know more, to see more. Is that selfish? Maybe it is. 

The last shot of the special is Hoseok and Jungkook getting back into their car and driving away. [Still With You] And the song changed, and that was when I started crying. 

I won't bore you too much more with the details of my very personal emotional reactions. We're here to talk about the special, after all, even if this is Leah's Corner. I just think it can be hard sometimes, to feel so connected to someone you don't know. But beautiful, too. To love someone so much you mythologize them. To come back out the other side of it and love the things that make them human even more than the rest of it, yeah? Am I making sense?

As the car drove away and the music lifted, covering up the sound of tires against pavement, and we lost sight of them behind dark-tinted windows, I wondered at how much love I can hold for this family that doesn't belong to me, and this sweet and wonderful community of fans that does. It's a lovely thing, I think.

It's a really, really lovely thing.

[still with you plays to the end]

Well hey everyone, thanks so much for joining this uncharacteristically philosophical episode of Leah's Corner. I was so grateful that I go to do this two-part series for this fandom that means so much to me, and that there are other people who want to scream with their hearts just as loudly as I do. 

As always, please come say hi on social media if you're feeling so inclined, and be sure to vote in my poll on Patreon if you're a patron (which, it's super easy to join) for what I should cover in my next episode.

Okay, love you guys, be good to yourselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3


	3. Bonus Episode!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In light of the new Vogue Korea interview, here's a short bonus episode to discuss its contents!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh we made it! Please enjoy this bonus episode, the last part in the Leah's Corner series for now. :') Thank you thank you thank you for listening, I know this is a pretty out-of-left-field kind of fanwork so I appreciate the support so much <33 And thank you Rene especially for supporting my work, I really hope you enjoy this!

  
_cover art by jamesbonds_

**Listen**  
  
_(or click[here](https://archive.org/details/hope-in-the-home-bonus-episode) for mobile streaming)_

Written and read by poppyseedheart

 **Length:** 8:35

TRANSCRIPT:

Oh. My. God. GUYS! On the one hand, this was probably already in the plans from the very start because of the way the special lined up with promo activities and the other things they've been doing on social media, blah blah blah, timing and marketing strategies and stuff, but on the other hand I personally manifested this and I have never been happier that I am a little bit clairvoyant and a lot a bit in touch with my higher self.

If you want to know more about how I'm low key psychic, go check out my February post on Patreon.

In the meantime, and I am so excited to say this, let's fucking get it.

[intro music]

[laughter] Sorry, I was so excited about this that I didn't even do my intro. Hi everyone, this is Leah's Corner, a mix of pop culture, television recaps, a little bit of celebrity gossip, and general entertainment news. If you're new here, welcome! If you're not, good. I mean, I love all of my listeners equally, but some of y'all have been around for a long time, and I love that for us.

So literally this morning, an exclusive interview with Vogue Korea dropped, and Jungkook, Hoseok, and Heuningkai were all asked questions about their lives. Oh my god, the pictures were so unbelievably cute. I swear to god, I look at the mannerisms on this kid and—yeah, I know it isn't biologically possible that he's genetically related to both of them, but you really could've fooled me. His big smile! His little shirt with the painted letters on it, pleaseeee. I would be doing the little pleading emoji that Hoseok loves if I thought you could hear me doing it via audio.

So we got a bunch of really adorable answers from him, like who's best at cooking dinner (Jungkook, but it seemed to be a narrow race and Hoseok protested a bunch), what his favorite song is from either of his dads (Euphoria—great choice), who makes him laugh the most (Hoseok), and who he goes to first when he has a nightmare (both of them! he said. The interviewer noted that he grabbed both of his dads at this point and Hoseok put his arm around Kai's shoulders while Jungkook rubbed his back. Goodbye, I'm literally dust).

They talked a bit about their new music, which was really fun too. Does anyone else think Jungkook was maybe hinting at an IU collab when he was talking about his next album? Just me? It might be a stretch but when you really want something I think it's completely valid to just use your confirmation bias on everything you hear, personally.

And okay, the thing you've been waiting for. i'm gonna talk about it now. The reason I turned this two- part series into a two plus one series like one of those five plus one fanfics i see y'all writing. 

They talked about Base Line.

Now, I totally stand by what I said about them deserving privacy around things if they want it, especially since they'd both gone on record saying that was the one thing that only the two of them knew the whole truth about. I could not begrudge them that, of course. not for all the curiosity in the world.

That said, lemme just grab a pillow really quick and [scream muffled by pillow].

Finally, after so many years, the full story. Or, part of it at least. I don't know if we'll ever really know 100% of the full story, but I think that's okay. Like I said, let them have their secrets. And let them share what they want.

And they wanted to!!

Okay, so here's what went down, according to the interview. First, they clarified that they've never swapped bodies. It is hysterical to me that they knew about that theory and also went on the record denying it. [laughter] So in their own bodies, they did see each other at the Base Line music video filming, and spoke a little bit before Hoseok started filming his main parts. He was getting his makeup done and Jungkook took a wrong turn trying to find the bathroom, apparently. Cute. Hoseok took the opportunity, in his classic seize the day kind of a way, and apologized that he had made things awkward between himself and Jungkook back when they got drinks together and Hoseok spilled them. Check out part one of this series for that backstory.

Jungkook, still shy as hell at that point, was horrified to hear that Hoseok felt any guilt about that night, and proceeded to apologize profusely himself for being too nervous to talk to Hoseok after that. There's a really cute quote where Jungkook said, "I told him, sunbaenim, I understand if you don't want me to be in this music video, and he just started laughing at me." I mean, that's fair of Hoseok! To think that he would apologize and then kick Jungkook off the set, ha, wouldn't that be too harsh?

They made plans to go out for chicken after the filming for real this time, without too many other people and hopefully without spilling drinks, and stayed at the restaurant for almost three hours talking. They worked out their miscommunications, talked about what they admired about each other, made plans to see each other more, and just laughed a lot, apparently.

Three hours! I mean, it makes sense when you think about it. They always seem to have such an ease with each other and play off of each other so well in interviews or behind the scenes clips, and while I think you can always learn to gel with someone, sometimes you need that natural chemistry to underscore things, or elevate them. It keeps a relationship strong when the base is so solid. At least, I assume it does. Ladies, if you're looking for a girlfriend.... or really anyone that's looking for a girlfriend, I'm not picky.

Okay, okay, this is not your dating corner, Leah. 

After spending all that time at dinner, they met up every day for nearly a week even with their incredibly busy schedules, first because they were both on set for the rest of the Base Line filming, and then working around recording sessions, promotions, behind the scenes filming, et cetera. After that, they still saw each other multiple times a week for months until Hoseok departed on your, and then they said that they used to video call each other all the time. It's almost like they worked so hard at avoiding each other that once the floodgates opened, all of the potential of the relationship smashed into them at once.

It's funny, they said they didn't consider themselves to have started actually dating until almost four months after the Base Line video wrapped filming. They were just— hanging out, were the words Hoseok used, which cracked me up. I, too, "hang out" with the object of my affections constantly for months without thinking we're dating. (That was a joke. That's romance, y'all.)

And from there, well. You know the story, I think! I just loved getting this peek behind the curtain, especially with the quotes they shared. Jungkook looking like a baby deer and almost crying while aplogizing in response to an apology? Hoseok aggressively styling his hair for these quote unquote casual hangouts? How of course they couldn't have guessed when they first met that they would end up here, with all of this success and a son and a rumored international wedding around the corner, but that when they both look back, they can't really bring themselves to be surprised.

Jungkook said, "I think some part of me unconsciously always knew it would be him. Even when I didn't know, I knew."

And Hoseok said, "Not a lot of people get to have everything they want, with their favorite person. I think about it a lot, what I did to deserve this. But maybe some people are just... lucky."

And maybe they are.

They started dating a good while after the music video filming, or so we know now. Hoseok asked Jungkook out, and their first date was a hidden in plain sight picnic by the Han River. They brought music and food, got to pet a dog, and just relaxed in the night air without being bothered. Picture perfect, yeah? 

The cynic in me wants to really get into nit-picking things like this sometimes, but I think... not today. Today I'm going to think about this love story and let myself get swept up in it. i'm going to think about how Hoseok and Jungkook found each other imperfectly, and how they built a gorgeous life and family and got to have all of the things they wanted.

I hope that for all of us. If you're listening to this, wherever you are, I hope you're happy, and I hope that the happiest days are yet to come. I hope you are feeling loved. I hope you have hope, and that this little podcast or any of the content described herein have brought you some modicum of joy.

Usually I do a whole outtro thing, but this is a bonus episode, so I'm going rogue. I've been Leah, this has been Leah's Corner, and I'm wishing you all the very, very best.

[outtro music]

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on twit at poppyseedfic if you're so inclined! <3


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